Connor McDavid
Connor McDavid (born January 13, 1997 in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing Career Connor played minor ice hockey with the York-Simcoe Express of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) before moving to the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), where he played bantam and minor midget hockey. He played in the 2009 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament as a member of York-Simcoe. In the 2011–12 season, he recorded 79 goals and 130 assists for 209 points in 88 games at the minor midget level and was named the GTHL Player of the Year. Because of his high level of play, Connor was granted Exceptional Player status by Hockey Canada and was allowed to be entered in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection at age 15, a year earlier than he would have otherwise been eligible. He was the third player given that status after John Tavares was granted it in 2005, followed by Aaron Ekblad in 2011. Connor was selected first overall by the Erie Otters at the Priority Selection. As the first overall selection, he was awarded the Jack Ferguson Award. Throughout his inaugural season, he would play on a line with Connor Brown. Starting in his second game of the season, he recorded a point in 15 consecutive games, and was named the OHL Rookie of the Month for both October and November. During a game against the Owen Sound Attack on March 9, 2013, Connor recorded two assists, giving him 37 for the season and setting a new team record for assists by a rookie. He also tied Tim Connolly for most points by a first-year player, with 62. In the team's final game of the season, March 16 against the Guelph Storm, Connor recorded four assists, giving him 66 total points during the season and passing Connolly for the most points by an Otters rookie. He finished the season with the most assists by an OHL rookie with 41 and second in scoring for first-year players, with 66 points. In recognition of his play, he was awarded the Emms Family Award as the top rookie in the OHL, was a finalist for CHL Rookie of the Year, and was named to the OHL First All-Rookie Team. Following his 2013–14 season, Connor won the William Hanley Trophy (the OHL's most sportsmanlike player), the Bobby Smith Trophy (OHL Scholastic Player of the Year), was named the CHL Scholastic Player of the Year, and was named to the OHL Second All Star Team. During training camp for the 2014–15 season, Connor was named the captain of the Erie Otters. He had a strong start to the season before breaking his hand in an on ice fight on November 11, 2014. At the time, he was leading the OHL in points, having scored 16 goals and 35 assists in 18 games. Connor missed six weeks of play as a result of his injury, returning to the ice to play for Canada at the 2015 World Junior Championships. He rejoined the Otters on January 8, 2015, scoring a goal in a 4–3 loss against the Sarnia Sting. In the 47 games that Connor played with the Otters during the 2014–15 regular season, he registered 44 goals and 76 assists, finishing third in OHL scoring. He had a dominating performance during the OHL playoffs, scoring 21 goals and 28 assists and leading all players with 49 points (in comparison, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds player, Nick Ritchie, was second in playoff scoring with 26 points). Connor was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as playoff MVP despite the fact that the Erie Otters were eliminated in 5 games in the OHL Championship by the Oshawa Generals. Following the 2014–15 season, he was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy for the OHL Player of the Year and was named CHL Player of the Year. Connor was drafted first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers. On July 3, 2015, he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the team. He made his NHL debut on October 8, 2015, in a 3–1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. He scored his first goal (and point) four nights later against goaltender Kari Lehtonen, in a 4–2 loss to the Dallas Stars. On November 3, 2015, Connor broke his clavicle during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers and missed 37 games. He returned to the line-up on February 2, 2016, scoring a goal and gaining two assists. In his first game against his boyhood team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Connor had his first five-point night, recording a point on every goal in a 5–2 victory, including three assists (on three Jordan Eberle goals) and two goals. He finished third in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year despite participating in only 45 games in his rookie season. On October 5, 2016, Connor was named captain of the Oilers, making him the youngest captain in NHL history. At the age of 19 years and 266 days, he was 20 days younger than Gabriel Landeskog when he was named captain of the Colorado Avalanche. On November 19, 2016, in a game against the Dallas Stars, he recorded his first career hat-trick in a 5–2 win ending a 10-game goal drought. On January 18, 2017, Connor recorded his 100th career point with an assist against the Florida Panthers, doing so in 92 games and becoming the fourth fastest active player to reach 100 points. He finished the season with 30 goals, 70 assists, and 100 points, and won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. Connor was the third-youngest player to ever win the award; only Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky were younger when they won. He had 11 more points than the next highest scorers, Crosby and Patrick Kane. On July 5, 2017, Connor signed an eight-year, $100 million extension with the Oilers. The average annual value of $12.5 million per year is the highest in the NHL, surpassing the $10.5 million contracts held by Carey Price, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. He became the first Oiler in history to score a hat trick in an opening-night game, which took place on October 4, 2017 against the team's provincial rival, the Calgary Flames. On January 13, 2018, Connor scored his 200th point on an assist from Drake Caggiula's goal. Connor entered his second NHL All-Star Game in 2018, participating in two events. He became the first player to win the "Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater Competition" event back-to-back, with times of 13.310 in 2017, and 13.454 in 2018. In the 2017–18 season, Connor scored his second, third, and fourth career hat tricks. He also earned his first four-goal game, against the Tampa Bay Lightning, on February 5, 2018. Despite the Oilers failing to qualify for the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, he won the Art Ross Trophy for the second straight season and won the Ted Lindsay Award for the second consecutive time. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs Bold indicates led league International International Play Connor first played in an IIHF tournament in 2013 when he joined the Canadian under-18 team at the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships in Sochi, Russia. The youngest player on the Canadian team, he played his first game against Slovakia on April 18, where he recorded one goal and two assists. After recording a hat trick against Sweden, he was named the best Canadian player of the game. Connor led the tournament in goals and points while helping Canada win a gold medal for only the third time since the tournament's inception in 1999, defeating the four-time defending champion, the United States, in the final. McDavid played for Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championship where the team finished fourth. He also represented Canada in the 2015 World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal where they won gold on January 5, 2015. Connor served as one of the two alternate captains for the team. In the 7 games, he played at the tournament he scored 3 goals and a tournament-leading 8 assists. He was named to the tournament all-star team. He won gold playing for Canada at the 2016 World Hockey Championship. In the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, he was captain of Team North America (which was composed of players age 23 and under from Canada and the United States). Connor and his teammates Ryan Nugent-Hopkins & Darnell Nurse were part of Team Canada's 2018 IIHF World Championship roster, with him serving as captain of the team. Canada finished fourth in the tournament. Accolades Personal Life Connor was born in in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada to Brian and Kelly McDavid. He has an older brother named Cameron. He first skated when he was 3 years old. The next year, he started playing hockey; his parents lied about his age because participants were required to be 5 years old. When McDavid was 6, the hockey association in his hometown of Newmarket would not let him play above his age group. Instead of having Connor play in the lower level, his parents enrolled him with a team in nearby Aurora, where he played against players as old as 9 years old. Connor later joined the York-Simcoe Express, a team in Aurora, Ontario, where he was coached by his father, Brian; the team would win four Ontario Minor Hockey Association championships. According to Connor, the decision to leave the York Simcoe Express in 2011 to join the Toronto Marlboros came at a personal cost with both him and his parents losing friends over the decision. He considered attending Boston University and playing hockey for their team, the Terriers, but decided it would be best for his development to play in the OHL. Being from Southern Ontario, Connor followed various sporting teams in the area. His favorite team growing up was the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he also followed the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays. In addition to the Maple Leafs, he was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins due to the presence of his favourite player, Sidney Crosby. In 2015, Connor said his most comparable NHL player was then-Maple Leafs centre Tyler Bozak due to his good skating and "pass first" mentality. Category:Players Category:Edmonton Oilers players Category:Edmonton Oilers draft picks Category:1990s births Category:NHL captains